Tag Archives: tobacco

Despite warnings that e-cigarettes can be harmful, nearly 40 percent of Kentuckians age 18-45 have tried an e-cig, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP). In fact, Kentuckians with lower incomes also were about 74 percent more likely to have tried vaping than those with higher incomes.

“Research suggests that e-cigs may be a gateway to using other forms of tobacco, and they can be just as harmful,” Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said in a news release. “They expose users to toxic chemicals, including nicotine, which long has been proven to be addictive and responsible for a wide range of health issues. E-cigs are simply not a safe alternative to smoking, especially for young adults and nonsmokers.”

KHIP also asked opinions about the safety of e-cigarettes. About three in 10 Kentucky adults thought e-cigs were safer than tobacco cigarettes, and 19 percent thought they were less safe. A much larger proportion – 45 percent – thought there was no difference in safety between the two.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report in December 2016 stating that the use of e-cigarettes by youth and young adults often leads to cigarette smoking, other tobacco use and nicotine addiction, with all the health dangers associated with nicotine addiction. The agency raised concerns that e-cig marketers have been using tactics that attract youth and young adults and said that the incidence of this age group trying e-cigs doubled from 2013 to 2014, the latest date for which data was available. The U.S. Surgeon General has called the rising use of e-cigarettes among young adults a “major public health problem.”

Once again, Kentucky ranks first for its adult smoking rates, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to the report, Kentucky retook the top spot from West Virginia in 2015 with an adult smoking rate of 25.9 percent; West Virginia’s is 25.7 percent, followed closely by Arkansas at 24.9 percent.

Smoking rates have declined across the nation almost 28 percent since 2005, from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 15.1 percent in 2015, according to the report, which is based on the 2015 National Health Interview Survey. Kentucky’s smoking rates declined 10 percent in the same time frame, from 28.7 percent to 25.9 percent, according to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a constant national poll conducted by the CDC.

“Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S., accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year, or one of every five deaths,” says the CDC.

The state’s high smoking rate also comes with a hefty price tag, as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids estimates Kentucky’s smoking-related health costs at $1.92 billion a year. The group ranks Kentucky 37th in protecting children from tobacco, and says 17 percent of its high school students smoke.

The federal government on Thursday moved to regulate the e-cigarette industry – including banning electronic cigarette sales to minors – and required all tobacco products to undergo government review, even many already on the market.

E-cigarettes, along with similarly categorized devices such as vaporizers and vape pens, will be regulated as tobacco products because they use a liquid containing nicotine.

The new rule from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implements the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act passed by Congress in 2009. Why has it taken so long to get this rule passed, if Congress acted six years ago? Well, according to Kaiser Health News: “In December 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled the FDA could not regulate electronic cigarettes as a drug or a device but only as a tobacco product. That meant the government could oversee their marketing but not restrict their sale, except to minors. It’s unclear why the FDA needed more than five additional years to issue a final rule.”

As part of its “Tips From Former Smokers” campaign, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a set of resources for mental health professionals to help their patients fight tobacco use and quit smoking.

Studies show that people with mental health conditions are more likely to smoke than those who don’t, according to the CDC website. They suggest that primary care providers (PCPs) and mental health care providers should routinely screen patients for tobacco use and offer evidence-based smoking cessation treatments.

To help them with these conversations, the CDC has provided a set of documents and resources to help explain how mental health care professionals can get involved and support their patients, offers suggestions about how to conduct a brief tobacco intervention, shares important reasons to quit smoking, and more. These are available online by clicking here.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a new campaign on the dangers of smokeless tobacco among rural teens, expanding its “The Real Cost” campaign “to educate rural, white male teenagers about the negative health consequences associated with smokeless tobacco use.”

“For the first time, messages on the dangers of smokeless tobacco use — including nicotine addiction, gum disease, tooth loss, and multiple kinds of cancer — are being highlighted through the placement of advertisements in 35 U.S. markets specifically selected to reach the campaign’s target audience,” according to a news release from the FDA.

“The Real Cost” campaign launched nationally in February 2014 across multiple media platforms including TV, radio, print, digital, and out-of-home sites. It currently airs in 35 markets, including Lexington and Paducah in Kentucky.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control has updated its Prevention Status Reports, which ranks the biggest U.S. public health issues.

The Prevention Status Reports organize information on state public health policies and practices in a format that is easy to use for public health professionals, community leaders, and policy makers. The reports allow these individuals to understand their state’s status and identify improvement areas.

According to the reports, the 10 most important public health problems and concerns are (listed alphabetically):

Alcohol-related harms

Food safety

Healthcare-associated infections

Heart disease and stroke

HIV

Motor vehicle injury

Nutrition, physician activity and obesity

Prescription drug overdose

Teen pregnancy

Tobacco use

The Prevention Status Reports website also features an interactive map, tables summarizing state data and fact sheets. To learn more, click here.

The number of students in middle school and high school who use electronic cigarettes tripled from 2013 to 2014, surpassing the total amount of teen use of all tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and federal officials are blaming unrestricted advertising.

According to the CDC’s 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, e-cigarette use by high school students increased from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014, and from 1.1 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014 for middle school students. That amounts to about 2 million high school students and 450,000 middle school students smoking e-cigarettes.

Seven out of 10 middle-school and high-school students (69 percent) say they’ve seen e-cigarette ads in stores, online or in other media, with most of the ads using the same themes that have been used to sell traditional cigarettes for years: sex, independence and rebellion, according to a recent CDC report.

“The same advertising tactics the tobacco industry used years ago to get kids addicted to nicotine are now being used to entice a new generation of young people to use e-cigarettes,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in an online statement.

To read the Kentucky Health News report of this study, please click here. To see the “Vital Signs” report that attributes the increase in e-cigarette use in youth with the increase in e-cigarette advertising, please click here.

In 2015, only 17.2 percent of Medicaid recipients used smoking-cessation medications, even though such meds are available to them at little to no cost. Only 1.4 percent of received smoking-cessation counseling, according to data from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Almost $600 million of Kentucky’s annual Medicaid expenses are for smoking-related illnesses, Ashli Watts of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce said on Kentucky Educational Television in October.

The chamber wants the General Assembly to pass a statewide ban on smoking in workplaces as a way to save money for taxpayers and employers. “We can simply no longer afford to ignore this issue,” Watts said. “Smoking is not only killing us, it is bankrupting us.”

Passport Health Plan members seeking information about how to quit smoking can call Passport at 1-800-578-0603 or the Kentucky Quit Now Support Line at 1-800-784-8669.

The Great American Smokeout, a day when smokers are encouraged to quit for the day and make a plan to quit for good, is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19. This remains especially important in Kentucky, which has the highest rates of lung cancer and deaths from it, and where more than one in four adults smoke, the second highest rate in the nation.

The American Cancer Society has coordinated the Smokeout on every third Thursday in November since 1976. It is estimated that this annual event has helped change Americans’ attitudes about smoking, and probably saved millions of lives.

According to the Cancer Society, “about 42 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, and tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States. As of 2013, there were also 12.4 million cigar smokers in the US, and over 2.3 million who smoke tobacco in pipes — other dangerous and addictive forms of tobacco.”

For more information about the Great American Smokeout, including a guide to quitting smoking, please click here.

Friday September 27th,10:00 am-11:00 am

Thursday September 26th,12:00 pm-1:00 pm

The Healthy Lifestyle series is offered to JCTC students and will be held @HUB. Passport Health Plan’s Health Education Manager, Lisa Bellafato, and Behavioral Health Operation Manager, Eric Russ, will be onsite GET MORE INFO

Monday August 19th,12:00 pm-6:00 pm

Monday August 19th,5:00 pm-7:00 pm

BTS for college students. A Passport Representative will be onsite to provide information, answer questions, and hand out supplies. Location: Campbellsville University Student Center; Campbellsville, KY 42718

Saturday August 17th,11:00 am-12:00 pm

Monday August 12th,10:00 pm-2:00 pm

Free resource Fair for the Johnson County area- resources focused on insurance and local basic needs resources. A Passport representative will be onsite to provide information and answer questions. Location: 625 Main GET MORE INFO

Sunday August 11th,11:00 am-12:00 pm

Saturday August 10th,10:00 am-1:00 pm

Students have opportunity to receive free school and health supplies All of the back-to-school events are free and open to the public. Students must be accompanied by an adult to receive supplies, GET MORE INFO

Saturday August 10th,8:00 am-11:00 am

Event to allow families to collect community resources and pick up free school supplies. A Passport Representative will be onsite to provide information and answer questions. Location: 501 Philadelphia St; Covington, KY GET MORE INFO

Monday August 5th,4:30 pm-6:30 pm

Saturday August 3rd,9:00 am-11:30 am

A Back to School Event sponsored by the Medical Center for Franklin County students. The event will provide resources and information to participants; Passport Representative onsite to provide information and answer questions. GET MORE INFO

Saturday August 3rd,2:00 pm-5:00 pm

Saturday August 3rd,9:00 am-12:00 pm

Students have opportunity to receive free school and health supplies All of the back-to-school events are free and open to the public. Students must be accompanied by an adult to receive supplies, GET MORE INFO

Saturday August 3rd,9:00 am-12:30 pm

This event is for children and youth who attend Fayette County Public Schools. Back to school supplies giveaway , children’s activities. Education and Community Resources; Passport Representative onsite to provide information and GET MORE INFO

Thursday August 1st,5:00 pm-7:00 pm

A Back to School Event for Park City Elementary School students. The event will provide resources and information to participants. Passport Representative onsite to provide information and answer questions. Location: Park City GET MORE INFO

Thursday August 1st,9:00 am-11:00 am

A Back to School Event for Caverna Schools P -12th grade at the Cave City Convention Center. Passport Representative will be onsite to provide resources and information to participants. Location: 418 Mammoth GET MORE INFO

Thursday August 1st,5:00 pm-8:00 pm

A Passport Representative will be handing out resource info to the parents and students to get school supplies and resources. This is in Central time. Location: Greensburg High School 302 Brummal Ave; GET MORE INFO

Friday June 7th,10:30 am-12:30 pm

Saturday June 1st,11:00 am-8:00 pm

Location: 1080 Amphitheater Rd; Louisville, KY 40214 This Free all-day celebration of Music, Food, and Family activities invites everyone to be part of the beautiful diversity of Louisville will be held at GET MORE INFO